I’m running a little competition over on the Dinner and a Movie Substack to win a copy of my new book Cooking The Detectives. A love letter to TV detectives that contains recipes from the actors and actresses who played all the best ones! Skip over there to enter – the prize question is –...

Short notice my lovelies but I am doing a live “show and tell” tomorrow featuring some of my favourite movie star cookbooks and ephemera, including the thing that started it all… The event is called Dead Movie Stars Taught Me To Cook and is part of a 3-day online food festival over on the Substack...

Silver Screen Suppers is TEN YEARS OLD.  Jeepers! To celebrate, I’ve selected my favourite 50 film star recipes.  Ooh, this was tough, but FUN. When I started this project I was living on a houseboat on the Thames with a tabletop oven that had to be turned on with a pair of pliers.  You can...

Was so touched that Greg of Recipes4Rebels made me a celebratory gif – I had to post it up.   I can’t work out how to get it moving, but I’m working on it! As I have said recently, the BEST thing about having a blog is connecting with people all around the world to celebrate,...

Marguerite was not a silver screen star but she could have been! Look! Instead, Marguerite became one of Britain’s most loved home economists.  She wrote more than 170 cookery books, was the first ever TV chef and wanted everyone to be able to eat well, whatever their budget. To celebrate what would have been Marguerite’s...

Excitement is mounting for my forthcoming trip to Chagford, Dartmoor, Devon. I’ll be presenting a hands-on “make your own Hollywood cocktails and canapes” workshop at 2pm – come along if you are in the vacinity! Here’s the kind of thing that’s in store… There’s loads of amazing things going on at the Chagford Film Festival...

All the lovely people who hosted Joan Crawford dinner parties in November made me so, so happy.  Seeing their photos and write-ups just made my year.  Love the lovely internet!  Everyone who participated went into a prize draw and one lucky person won a copy of the Cooking With Joan Crawford cookbook.  Are you on...

It’s official!  The Shellac Sisters smashed it at Glastonbury!  Armed with four gramophones and six boxes of 78rpms we trotted down to the Glade each day for 3pm to charm festival-goers with our old-skool tunes.  They loved us!  Highlights for me were: 1 – first sight of our wonderful venue – a beautiful bandstand called...

I’m going to be DJing with The Shellac Sisters at Glastonbury Festival.  No kidding.  Come on down and see us if you are so inclined!  We’ll be taking four 1920s wind up gramophones and four hundred weight of 78rpm records…. Normal service will be resumed when I return…    

I am so proud of my lamb cake I had to share it, even though it is not a film star recipe.  What do you think? When I first put his googly eyes on he looked a bit worried… But not as worried as when we sliced his bum off… I have to say a...

My foodie penpal package this month came to me from Bonnie Scotland. The lovely Isobel put together a perfectly packed box with these wonderful things inside. Everyone at work oohed and ahhed when the cheese came out – it survived the journey but had ripened beautifully on the way! It’s been really cold this week...

When I was a pre-teen I joined an organisation that fixed you up with penpals. I really wish I could remember what it was called but you had to fill out a complicated form with tick boxes to tell them all about yourself so they could match you up. What your hobbies were, whether you...

Look out for my lounge on Saturday night on BBC’s Arena about the Beatles’ film Magical Mystery Tour – it was used as a location to represent a 1967 front room on Boxing Day. Now to business! This will probably be my longest post ever. Any conference where you get handed a breakfast margarita to...

Eek – I’m featured on Food Blogger Connect today. I’m going to be attending this three day event in London and am beyond excited. Can’t wait to meet food bloggers from around the world, exchange ideas, eat loads of delicious food and listen to some great speakers. Will report back. I realize that nobody will...

Wow, what a week!  On Thursday I got up at 5am to go and see the Olympic Torch in Camden.  I love the fact that my local tube station in Highgate was all flagged up for the Olympics when I got there at 5.30: The torch relay was coooooooooool.  Then on Friday night I went...

I rocked up at The Guild of Food Writers annual awards ceremony on Wednesday and it was just wonderful. I was thrilled that one of my heroes Yotam Ottolenghi was only a few feet away from me accepting his award for “Jerusalem on a Plate” and that Claudia Roden won the lifetime achievement award. I...

What a lovely surprise. Queens of Vintage magazine are running my piece about Silver Screen Sandwiches again. You can read it here: Silver Screen Sandwiches If any readers of the article drop by – hello and welcome! I blog about all my adventures in cooking the favorite fodder of my favourite movie stars right here....

I’ll be on the telebox on Christmas Day with the Shellac Sisters! I think it will just be a fleeting moment but the programme will be gorgeous anyhow. We did love Darcey…

I was so thrilled to be invited to give a presentation to the Guild of Food Writers about my Silver Screen Suppers project. I was very nervous to be speaking to such an esteemed crowd but they made me very welcome and I had lots of lovely compliments afterwards. We had wonderful retro-styled canapes made...

Stop Press! Programme is available on the BBC Listen again service – 78 Revolutions – until the year 2099 according to their website so no rush! In a very rare non recipe related post, I just thought I would let you all know that I’m on the radio tomorrow. I’ll be presenting a show about...

I’ve set myself a rigorous testing schedule for 2011 and can already see it’s going to be hard to stick to it. I’m back in the wonderful world of internet dating and it is a right bun fight already! Paid my subscription on Monday and have been on two assignations this week. The first guy...

Oh what a week it has been! DJing at The Savoy AND Claridges in the same week. How very glam! Masses of free cocktails at the former and one each paid for at Claridges – four cocktails and a bowl of peanuts was £80. Not joking. We got some good photos though. All sorts of...

Season’s Greetings! As is tradition there was a Christmas screening of “It’s a Wonderful Life” at Rosalind’s place. Her very own Jimmy Stewart had NEVER SEEN THE FILM. It caused much amusement as Rosalind and I kept passing each other tissues and when it had finished Jimmy flipped the TV over with great haste to...

“I wanna go home – I miss my cook” Am experiencing withdrawal symptoms as I haven’t been near a stove for weeks so the Silver Screen Suppers project has slowed to a halt. I’m back from the land of the long white cloud but currently of no fixed abode so cooking is proving a bit...

Well, I moved into the home of a genuine Hollywood star last night. An OSCAR winner no less but I am unable to reveal his identity – top secret. He will henceforth be referred to as THE STAR. I am flat sitting for THE STAR for two months in a fab 1930s block right slap...

“Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making $7 a week being one.” I had a look through my recipes to see if I had any “Gone With The Wind” related ones and found a great article in a 1941 “Modern Screen” magazine that was...

Tonight is “ladies football night” at Paulette Goddard’s place. Brazil are playing so we will have plenty to occupy our hearts and minds. We’ve all been asked to bring some grub so I thought it might be a good chance to try out Helen Twelvetrees’ “Wakimoli Salad”. Guacamole by any other name it seems to...

The Queen of entertaining Rosalind rustled up some superb Supper Smash last night. This is convenience food British style to rival the Bisquik. Those of a certain age on these shores will remember the “For Mash, Get Smash” advertising campaign and those a bit younger might even recall “Pot Smash” a short-lived potato version of...

Much excitement Thameside as the boat is back in the water. But not in its usual spot – secured next to the FUEL PONTOON for a few days. And this means right in the middle of the river basically. Fab views with birdlife all around. Those crazy headed Grebe things dive down for fish and...

“Hell, if I’d jumped on all the dames I’m supposed to have jumped on, I’d have had no time to go fishing. “ The only kind of hunting I do at the moment is MANHUNTING but Clark’s breakfast sure did set me up for the day yesterday. Tesco’s came up trumps with their “batter mix”...

Have spent a glorious day at the newspaper library in Colindale searching 1930s fan mags for silver screen recipes. Alas, zilch. Saw some fun things along the way though including a remarkable press photograph of Dick Powell in “Cowboy From Brooklyn” wearing the campest chaps I have ever seen (and I have seen plenty of...

I am hoping to rustle up a Clark Gable number on Sunday for the Panther. I wanted to follow Loretta’s recipe with something from her secret lover as I’ve been reading about their tryst and resulting lovechild. Am awaiting a recipe from my fellow chef in the States for Gable’s “Hunter’s Breakfast” – I have...

Trotted up to Kilburn High Road to buy meat products for Gracie’s Lancashire Hot Pot in my lunch hour. Despite all Prince Charles’ bleating about MUTTON you cannot buy it for love nor money round these parts. I settled for neck of lamb instead as the nice butcher man in Corrigan’s said it was much...

I saw the newly restored classic “Black Narcissus” last night and realised that it was a perfect film for someone trying to get over a man who thinks he is the handsome-ist stud in town. David Farrar plays the part of Mr Dean like he just can’t get over how devastatingly good looking he is....

OK. I have spent the afternoon skim-reading the abridged handbag sized version of “He’s Just Not That Into You” and I agree with everything those wise old yankees say. So time to stop wasting brain space on Dirty Scottish Georgie and get on with the project the Fricksta and I have been talking about for...